As the Orioles were preparing to wrap up a win against the Chicago White Sox, it was safe to assume that Zach Britton would be closing the game.
However, when a reliever got up in the bottom of the eighth inning with a one-run lead, it wasn’t their superb left-handed closer who pitched twice this week after a trip to the disabled list for a sore left forearm. It was right-hander Brad Brach.
Britton wasn’t in the bullpen. In fact, he wasn’t in the ballpark at all. He had an MRI on the forearm so the Orioles could compare it with the one they took on April 21.
"How we proceed will probably be derived from those findings," manager Buck Showalter said. "There’s some talk about the next step to take with him. He woke up this morning, felt it, felt some discomfort this morning. I guess we call it the night when we get back at 4 [a.m]. It got a little better as the day went on, but we’re trying to decide what our next step is."
